Lucknow Super Giants survived a scare to reach the Indian Premier League playoffs with a thrilling two-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday.
After Super Giants rode on the record unbroken opening partnership between Quinton de Kock (140 n.o., 70b, 10x4, 10x6) and captain K.L. Rahul (68 n.o., 51b, 3x4, 4x6) to amass 210, Kolkata Knight Riders came within striking distance as Rinku Singh and Sunil Narine forged a 58-run stand for the seventh wicket.
With Knight Riders losing Andre Russell and slipping to 150 for six in the 17th over, Rinku (40, 15b, 2x4, 4x6) and Narine struck boundaries at will to get their team closer to the target.
With 21 needed off the final over bowled by Marcus Stoinis, Rinku hit a four, two sixes and a two before a stunning catch by Evin Lewis in the deep ended his stay. With three required off the final delivery, Stoinis rattled Umesh Yadav’s stumps to send Super Giants into the playoffs and Knight Riders out of the tournament.
Mohsin Khan removed openers Venkatesh Iyer and debutant Abhijeet Tomar with just nine on the board. Skipper Shreyas smashed a 29-ball 50 (4x4, 3x6) and was involved in two useful stands — 56 for the third wicket with Nitish Rana and 66 for the fourth with Sam Billings — before being caught by Deepak Hooda off Stoinis.
Earlier, de Kock was batting on 12 when Tomar dropped a regulation catch at third-man, Umesh being the bowler to suffer. The South African made Knight Riders pay for the lapse, knocking the daylights out of the bowlers. Rahul and de Kock were involved in the highest opening partnership (210) in the league, and this was also the first time a team had batted first and didn’t lose a wicket.
While Rahul held fort, de Kock went after Southee and Russell in the last two overs, scoring 46 runs. In the penultimate over bowled by Southee, the left-hander carted three consecutive sixes and Rahul one.
In the 20th over bowled by Russell, de Kock took two off the first ball before hitting a four off the next. Off the third delivery, Nitish Rana dropped a catch at deep backward square-leg and allowed the ball to roll past the boundary. de Kock then smashed back-to-back maximums off the next two as Super Giants crossed the 200-mark.
The Lucknow side seemed to have batted Kolkata out of the game, but Knight Riders almost pulled it off before falling agonisingly short.
Brief Score:
Lucknow Super Giants: 210 for no loss in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 140 not out, KL Rahul 68 not out; Sunil Narine 0/27). Kolkata Knight Riders: 208 for 8 in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 50, Rinku Singh 40; Marcus Stoinis 3/23, Mohsin Khan 3/20).
